The course prepared teachers to address socio-environmental issues related to the Fundão dam collapse.
Teachers from municipalities in Minas Gerais affected by the collapse of the Fundão dam completed an advanced course in environmental education, offered in partnership with the Faculty of Education of UFMG and the Department of Education of UFOP.
More than 4,000 teachers from preschool to high school, from 616 public schools in 36 cities in Minas Gerais, participated in the initiative, which lasted six months and was offered in a hybrid format. The training enabled teachers to deal with topics such as environmental revitalization, mining and socio-environmental impacts. If we consider that each teacher reaches 30 students, it is possible to estimate that approximately 120 thousand students in the public education system – and their families – were covered by the project’s content.
Project Impact and Scope
The postgraduate course in the lato sensu modality is part of the Doce River School Project and is part of the Educational Program for Revitalization of the Doce River Basin, which seeks to raise awareness in the school community about mining, rupture and revitalization.
All students developed experimental pedagogical projects that were implemented in the classrooms. One of them, developed by a teacher from Barra Longa, was made available as an elective subject in high school for the public school system in Minas Gerais. The project also includes the offer of Specialization positions in Environmental Education and master’s and PhD scholarships until 2028, with an investment of approximately R$55 million, covering Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo.
By qualifying teachers to address complex and relevant topics in the classroom, the expectation is to create a legacy of knowledge and educational practices that support the revitalization of the Doce River basin and the development of affected communities.